PRAGUE, March 27 - Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France lead the ice dance competition at the World Figure Skating Championships after delivering a season-best 92.74-point rhythm dance to Madonna’s “Vogue.”
The pair, Olympic champions from Milan, are skating together for the first time this season after both returned from retirement. Cizeron previously won five world titles with Gabriella Papadakis; Fournier Beaudry competed internationally for Canada and Denmark before gaining French citizenship in November.
Their victory in Milan made Cizeron the first ice dancer to win Olympic gold with two different partners. A win in Saturday’s free dance-just their sixth competition together-would make them the first team to claim a world title in their debut season.
Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier sit second with 86.45 points; Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are third at 85.09. U.S. stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates, triple world champions and Olympic silver medalists, did not compete.
“It was magic,” Cizeron said. “We’ve delivered a more relaxed performance than at the Games.” Fournier Beaudry added that their calmness brought greater flow and connection to their final run of the program.